As food insecurity touches more households, the Kennebecasis Valley Food Basket in New Brunswick is stepping up to meet the need.
Backed by a more than $800,000 upgrade, the non-profit organization is expanding its space and operations.
“I wish that someone would come along and put us out of business. But it doesn’t appear that that’s going to happen. So, we’re just going to continue to slug our way through,” said Brian Rignanesi, who is chair of the organization’s board.
He said that during the height of the pandemic, the food bank served about 25 families a week. That number has now nearly doubled, underscoring the rising cost of living and growing food insecurity.
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The food basket began in 1985 and currently spends about $100,000 each year to feed roughly 400 people a month.
“There are times when people are living so close to the edge, even with an increase in (the) price of gasoline, sometimes we’ll see that bump out weekly numbers up,” said Rignanesi.
An $800,000 expansion announced Monday is expected to create a more efficient layout for receiving, storing and preparing food.
“We’ve gone from around 300 square feet to roughly 1,000 to 1,100 square feet. So, what that’s allowed us to do is to be much more efficient in how we receive, store, and distribute our food, he said.
The province is committing about $370,000 towards the expansion, with the remainder being raised through community donations.
“Something that our government is focused on is affordability measures,” said local MLA Aaron Kennedy during the announcement.
The expanded space at the food basket is also expected to be used for client workshops, focusing on financial literacy, budgeting, nutrition, meal planning and healthy living.
— With a file from Global News’ Rebecca Lau
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